


Destiny

by A Magiluna Stormwriter (ariestess)



Category: The Princess and the Frog
Genre: Character Death Fix, Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-22
Updated: 2010-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-13 23:44:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/142990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariestess/pseuds/A%20Magiluna%20Stormwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"When you ready to take your destiny, boy, you know what to do."</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Destiny

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vocal_bard (atrickstertype)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/atrickstertype/gifts).



> Date Written: 22 December 2010  
> Written for: Yuletide 2010  
> Recipient: vocal_bard  
> Website: ShatterStorm Productions -- Doggie Duo  
> Link to: http://bdkk.shatterstorm.net/  
> Archive: ShatterStorm Productions & AO3 only…all others ask for permission & we'll see…
> 
> Author’s Disclaimer: "The Princess and the Frog", the characters and situations depicted are the property of Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Studios. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. This site is in no way affiliated with "The Princess and the Frog", Disney, or any representatives of the actors.
> 
> Known character bio information came from [here](http://disneyvillains.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Facilier) & [here](http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Facilier) for Dr. Facilier, and [here](http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Mama_Odie) for Mama Odie. Outside of this, I decided to keep Mama Odie at her 197 years of age and made Facilier about 50 in the timeline of the movie. I also went through and did a pause to get the date on the paper that Big Daddy was reading, which said April 25, 1926, even though this is late for Mardi Gras to be happening.
> 
> The idea for using the name Amos came from [this list](http://www.galbithink.org/names/88m0-9.txt) of popular baby names between 1871-1880.
> 
> The basic definition information for the tarot cards came from the book [_Tarot Journaling_](http://tarotjournaling.com/about.htm) by Corrine Kenner.
> 
> Dedication: To my muses, for always being willing to try something new.
> 
> Beta: shatterpath

April 25, 1896

"Amos!"

The shrill cackle of the old woman's voice rankles down your spine like a crack of lightning. The sharp crack of that damnable snake's skull against your own does even less to endear either of them to you. But there's no one better to learn the vagaries of being a Voodoo priest from than this crazy old witch. You couldn't very well learn from some faker on the street, and all of the other Queens in the city wouldn't touch you once Mama Odie got her mark on you. You have always believed in the power of the Loa, of Voodoo, and have wanted to know the great secrets of the priests and priestesses for as long as you can remember. Your own mother said you were marked for greatness from the minute you were born. Even the great Queens of the city said so.

>   
> _You were barely a year old the first time you met Mama Odie. Your father had been lost in the floods weeks earlier and no one had heard anything from him since. Your mother wanted to know if he was still alive and if he'd be returning to your family or not. She carted you off to Mama Odie's place in the swamps to get a message from the mighty spirits._
> 
>  _Mama Odie took one look at you and shook her head. "That boy's touched by power," she said gravely, squinting to study you more closely. "He could be a great man one day, but beware that he learns the value of hard work. Nothing good comes of taking the easy way out in life."_
> 
>  _She shifted to let her snake slither into your pram to stare at you for a long moment before a voice whispered, "When you ready to take your destiny, boy, you know what to do."_

No one would believe you if you said you remembered that moment; no one but the old woman herself, and even that is suspect. On your fifteenth birthday, when you became old enough to make such a decision, you began searching among the great Queens of New Orleans to find a mentor to teach you the ways of Voodoo. But every single one of them turned you away, saying your teacher had already chosen you, and pointed you in the direction of the swamps. It didn't matter how much you begged, and pleaded, and wheedled with them; none of the Queens would take you on as a student. Without them, how were you supposed to fulfill your destiny and become the most powerful Voodoo priest in the history of New Orleans?

"Amos! Don't you be ignorin' Mama Odie when she tryin' to teach you somethin' important, boy! You don't wanna be upsettin' the spirits one day because you didn't pay attention to Mama Odie."

"Many apologies, Mama Odie," you reply, careful to modulate the disdain from your tone. No reason in angering the old woman, even if she is mostly harmless. You upset her and the Queens find out, then you'll have no chance to take your rightful place of power in this city.

"Come here, boy, and listen to what Mama Odie got to tell you. JuJu! Where you going, you crazy baby?"

The soft scrape-scrape of belly scutes against the old wooden floor of Mama Odie's ramshackle hovel sends a shiver down your spine. JuJu is a harmless familiar to the old woman, but he represents some of the most powerful magic in the world. And where there's magic, there's power; where there's power, there's money. You'll do anything you can to get money and power; to rise above the humble life you were dealt.

The old woman settles in her broken down throne and begins to shuffle the ancient deck of cards that materializes seemingly out of thin air. You know that's not the case, but haven't been able to follow her sleight of hand, not even after nearly five years of studying with her. Spreading them out on the table, she motions for you to choose your three cards. She takes them in her hand and moves to clear the rest of the deck, but one card slithers its way out of the pile before she can stop it. Lifting the card, the old woman stares at it for a moment before setting it on top of the deck again, but doesn't let you see it. Instead, she flips over the three cards you've chosen.

"Now isn't this just a wonder of all wonders," she mutters, stroking the deck with her left hand as she studies the trio on the table. "Amos, my boy, you've been reading the cards for a few years now. Tell Mama Odie what you see in these cards you done choose."

Your eyes narrow as you study the cards, wanting to know what that fourth card was. "The Magician indicates skill, mastery, and showmanship, perhaps even a bit of self-confidence. The Devil, on the other hand, would indicate the nature of man's weaknesses, his addictions and temptations. And The Tower signals ruin and destruction, but also freedom and release from one's bonds."

The cards and their meanings swirl around your brain just as that damnable snake is slithering around the old woman's flabby, ancient carcass. What could the spirits possibly mean by these cards? Or did they come up merely because you just didn't care enough to take this reading seriously in the first place? Mama Odie is still treating you like a child, despite the fact that you've far exceeded the studies she's given you over the years. You should be years beyond what she's teaching you, and yet she won't budge on letting you do certain things yet; things you know you can and should be doing for a long time now.

"And if you had someone come to you for a reading, what would you tell them, Amos?"

There's an odd note to her tone as she asks this question, something you can't quite define, and it's driving you insane with curiosity.

"I would tell them that they've got access to a wealth of knowledge, but not to abuse it."

Now there's a strange light in her rheumy old eyes, a dangerous look that has the hairs on the back of your neck standing straight up. You would swear a cold breeze is blowing against your back, but the time for that kind of weather is long over with now. Could the spirits be telling you something?

"And?"

And? What on earth does she mean by that?

"And what? And I would advise them to ask the spirits for guidance."

"Mmm," she says slowly, rubbing at her chin. "I suppose that would work."

"It would help if I knew what that last card was," you add quickly, trying to keep calm in the face of her annoying condescension. "It could change the whole tone of the reading, Mama Odie."

"That's right, it could," she replies and begins to shuffle the deck again before it disappears to wherever she stores it. "You do well to think on this, boy. You never know when you'll need that kind of knowin'."

~~^~~^~~

April 26, 1926

This was not how it was supposed to happen.

The arrival of Prince Naveen should have heralded the beginning of a new era for you. He and that idiot manservant of his only knew you as Dr. Facilier initially, and hadn't had time to heed the warnings about the Shadowman who dabbles in the darkest of the dark magics. Once they agreed to the little shake-up you planned for their lives, it was too late to back out. Your friends took that oath seriously, took your deal seriously, and there was no way you could even back out of it. Even if you have a million lifetimes and access to countless souls, there's no way you'd be able to pay back the debt you owe your friends for the magic and power you've wielded ever since you left Mama Odie's tutelage and pledged your allegiance to the Petro Loa. You didn't need the great Queens and their stupid rules about who could train whom. When you changed your name from the lowly Amos to the more exotic Facilier, the money slowly started coming in. As your reputation as the Shadowman grew, only the visitors and newcomers to New Orleans were willing to take the offers you made that just couldn't be refused.

Until that girl, that slimy _frog_ broke your talisman and severed your deals with the Petro Loa. What a positively horrific way to learn that they weren't the friends you thought them to be. The fact that you're currently laid bare and chained spread-eagle like Prometheus as the spirits eat away at your flesh and your immortal soul, only to have it all miraculously heal over and over again for eternity, should be the final nail that drives home the truth of your reality. Not that you ever should have been stupid or naïve enough to believe that they could really want anything other than what they were promised.

"That's right, boy," comes a voice you hoped never to hear again. That she's appeared here in your personal hell is a crushing blow to the slim hope you have of getting out of this messy purgatory you're in. "You should have listened to Mama Odie those years ago, Amos, but no! No, you had to go and prove that you knew more about Voodoo than Mama Odie did, didn't you, boy? And look where it got you now?"

"I don't need your condescension, old woman," you growl, but the words end in a hiss of pain as one of the spirits is particularly vicious in its devouring of your flesh.

"No, I suppose you don't, boy, but you probably do need this."

With a flourish of her hand, a worn card from her old tarot deck hovers in the air between us for a moment before that damnable snake snatches it and slithers up the length of your body, scattering all but the meanest of the Petro Loa from their long-awaited snack. Flicking its tongue in a way that isn't even possible, JuJu turns the card around and you find yourself faced with the Judgment card.

"No…"

That damnable old woman cackles in her maddening way, the sound grating on your lost soul in a most painful way. "Oh yes, Amos, my boy. You done ignored your own advice and now you gots to pay the price."

" _This_ was the card you held back from me all those years ago?"

"Mama Odie didn't hold nothin' back from you, boy," she counters quickly and snaps her fingers, which has JuJu cracking his skull against yours sharply. "You weren't ready for the truth yet, and then you just up and left without finishin' your learnin'. It wasn't my destiny that was on the line, boy, and it wasn't my job to seek you out after you left. You done brought this on yourself, Amos."

"Don't call me Amos! That innocent, hopeful boy died years ago. He couldn't do anything to get up out of the bottom of the barrel he'd been born in, but Facilier could do anything, _be_ anything."

"Facilier took the easy way out," she spits out. "Facilier is a bully and a coward, and he don't want to do the work he needs to get the acclaim he wants. Mama Odie warned your mama about that when you was just a little bitty baby."

"I remember."

"No, you don't!"

"When you ready to take your destiny, boy, you know what to," you reply, eyes closing as you hear that sibilant voice in your mind. "That's what the snake said when you put it in my pram."

"Oh ho, JuJu!" she cackles delightedly. "Did you start talkin' to the baby boy and tellin' him secrets? You such a naughty boy, JuJu! Mama gonna spank you for that when we get home."

"If I could remember that for my entire life, that means I have great power and should have the fame and money that go with it. But you always held me back. Why should other people get off easily because of the luck of what family they're born into? Why should I have to work for what I want?"

Mama Odie shakes her head, clucking her tongue, and snaps her fingers. JuJu slithers back off your body to twine around her shoulders, and the card disappears from whence it came. You would shudder with relief when that damnable snake is away from you, but you're bound too tightly to do so. The minute it leaves your body, the angry spirits return to their feasting.

"No, you never did learn your lesson, Amos," she finally says softly. "You were destined for greatness, but you were also destined for a great fall from grace. When you left my swamp, you just proved your destiny, and now you payin' for it. I don't think you'll be comin' back to the real world for a long, long time, Amos. You got too much debt to pay off to the spirits. I hope it was worth it."

Before you can even think of a reply, Mama Odie and JuJu disappear before your eyes, and the spirits begin anew to devour you, body and soul, with great gusto. Mama Odie was right, you've got far too much debt to even begin to pay off in a century of this torment.

 _"When you ready to take your destiny, boy, you know what to do."_


End file.
